Lessig Copyright

Thank god Lessig doesn't sing. But he does: about Mickey Mouse! I knew it!

Taking material that hadn't yet fallen into the public domain (at least in the case of Steamboat Willie, at the time copyright only lasting 14 years!). At least some of Walt's source material was already in the public domain. But according to him turnabout isn't fair play. At least, not for the shareholders.

(Vaidhyanathan puts it in a rather crystaline form: "the United States corrupted its copyright system by privileging corporate interests to the detriment of the public interests.")

The question of culture as something that is owned speaks to the question of commidificaiton (I'll write about this later, with micropayments) of our own idioms and signifiers.

So I'll quote the refrain:
1. Creativity and innovation always build on the past.
2. The past always tries to control the creativity that builds on it.
3. Free societies enable the future by limiting the past.
4. Ours is a less and less free society.